William Spratling is one of several modern designers who have reimagined traditional seating forms. Born in the United States, he made his career in Mexico (https://unframed.lacma.org/2013/04/11/modern-mexican-silver-reflections-across-time). In 1935, he opened a silver workshop and crafts studio, the Taller de Las Delicias, in Taxco, where he also produced tinware, handloomed wool rugs and blankets, and wood and leather furniture. He was one of the first designers to revive the butaca, a ranch-style easy chair with distinctive crossed supports, made of local wood. This example is made of sabino wood, a Mexican cypress. The leather sling seat is held in place by brass tacks that are ornamentally arranged in a zigzag pattern along the edges. The scalloped top crest rail features a fish cutout. On the rail’s reverse is Spratling’s hallmark: a burned WS brand alongside the word Taxco.
Thought to have originated in the Caribbean, the butaca’s overall shape and low height probably derive from ancient American ritual seats, while its rigid forms, materials, complex wood joinery, and iron nails were influenced by Spanish state folding chairs known as sillas de caderas, which arrived with early settlers. In Mexico, the butaca became popular as a resting chair confined to private spaces and used for informal occasions. Aside from Spratling, several other modern designers working in Mexico revisited the popular chair form in the 1930s through the 1960s, including Cuban-born Clara Porset (1895–1981), Luis Barragán (1902–1988), Héctor Aguilar (1905–1986), Don Shoemaker (1919–1990; M.2015.45.2), and Josef Albers (1888–1976; M.2020.17).
Ilona Katzew
2024
